A gritty performance from ten-man Royal Wootton Bassett Town earned them a well-deserved victory over league strugglers Wokingham & Emmbrook.

A controversial red card for 'keeper Curtis Meare early in the first half could have spelled trouble for Royal Wootton Bassett Town. However, an all-round tenacious performance and goals from Steve Olphert and Sam Packer, the former having turned down a move to Carterton in the week, ensured Bassett took all three points against basement dwellers Wokingham & Emmbrook.

With the game less than ten minutes old, Meare saw red for a foul just inside the penalty area, although it appeared the Wokingham forward was not only angling away from goal but arguably would not have reached the ball either after a heavy touch.

Replacing Meare between the sticks was club stalwart Steve Yeardley, who was unable to prevent Jake Butler's spot kick.

Despite being down to ten men Bassett's performance did not show it as both sides created chances throughout the rest of the first period but neither side was able to take control.

Paul Braithwaite's team have had quite a bit of practice playing with less than their full complement of players recently. Having battled for an hour with ten men at Binfield, they have now played for 140 out of their last 180 minutes at a numerical disadvantage. And that experience gained in the defeat in Berkshire on Monday night helped pull them through following the restart.

After the break the visitors' man advantage did start to show, with Wokingham having more of the play. Bassett kept digging in though and got their break on 56 minutes when a penalty was awarded for handball, which Olphert coolly slotted home from the spot to draw the sides level.

Bassett then took the lead with just four minutes remaining. Wokingham failed to clear the ball decisively, with Matt Cheetham picking up possession in the middle of the park and playing a great through ball into the path of Packer. The midfielder proceeded to muscle off his defender and fired into the far bottom corner to put the hosts ahead.

A late injury time scare did almost rob Bassett of their hard-fought victory. However, the assistant referee spotted a foul on Yeardley at the front post and the would-be equaliser from Garry Sargeant was rightfully ruled out.

Credit: Scott Smedley
Last modified on Sunday 27th September 2015 at 11:24